Peru, a land of immense contrasts, is ready and willing to welcome tourists, yet fewer than one million arrive each year. To make the most of the nation’s natural and man-made assets, the government has set a target of three million visitors a year by 2006.
Most tourists want to see the legendary mountain-top ruins of Machu Picchu. Previous marketing has tended to focus on the ruins, the ancient city of Cuzco and, to a lesser extent, the extraordinary desert drawings of Nazca. The government realizes that the over-concentration on these destinations has meant that few tourists see anything of the rest of the country.
Peru has about 100,000 monuments across the country. According to experts, the ancient town of Kuelap could prove more inspiring to tourists than even Machu Picchu. And Tumbes in the north has an excellent climate and some wonderful beaches.

Tourism vice-minister Ramiro Salas Bravo says: “We need to incorporate more destinations into what we offer – we want tourists to spend more time and money visiting other places than just Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
“In the north of the country, there are some very interesting places – Trujillo, Cajamarca, Chiclaya, Kuelap and the Amazon have not been sold as destinations as yet. We also have a huge bio-diversity in the Reserva Natural de Manu, where we can offer very specialized tourism,” he says.
Maria del Rocio Vesga, executive secretary of Promperu, the government’s tourism, trade and investment promotion agency, says the events of September 11 have taken their toll, but she adds: “We are doing everything possible to entice European travelers to come to Peru.”

Ms Vesga says the Amazonian jungle areas are very accessible and could be further opened up to tourists. “One way of solving this has been to give concessions to the private sector. The development at Reserva Natural de Pacaya Samiria, for example, has been a huge success.”
The private sector is waking up to the possibilities of expanding tourism in Peru. Filip Boyen, general manager of Miraflores Park Plaza in Lima, points out: “There is so much more in this country to be discovered.”

Miraflores Park Plaza is one the country’s three most prestigious hotels, run by Orient Express Hotels Peru with partner Peruval. Orient Express also manages two other hotels under concession: Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco and Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, the most convenient hotel from which to explore the famous ruins.

The Hotel Monasterio is the former San Antonio Abad seminary, built more than 300 years ago. At 8,200 ft above sea level, many visitors find the thin air debilitating, so oxygen is piped directly into the rooms to raise the level to normal. “This has been done in a hospital, but never before in a hotel. So we are the first to do this,” says Mr Boyen.
Gilles Gonzales, general man-ager of the Sofitel Royal Park Lima hotel, says the government’s target of three million tourists a year is ambitious, as it would represent a 26 percent year-on-year increase in business. “We truly believe a figure of 14 percent is more likely. Even that figure would represent very strong growth for us and is the basic reason why we have invested in Peru.”

Sofitel and Novotel are part of the French Accor chain, which has two hotels in Peru and plans to acquire more. The Novotel has been created from a 17th century monastery in Cuzco. Mr Gonzales adds: “We hope to have eight hotels in Peru in the next four years. People have tended to think of Peru as a country for backpackers – that image is now outdated.”

Travelling around Peru has never been easier. This is due in large measure to the country’s biggest people transporter, the Expresos Internacional Ormeno bus firm. Director Luis Joauquin Ormeno Malone says the service operates just like that of an airline. Tickets can be booked over the internet and reservations are confirmed, which he says removes “the fear some tourists have about the way bus services run in this continent.”

Mr Ormeno adds: “Tourists will soon realize that many places of great interest are not served by any means other than road transportation. Every day, buses of all classes of service [royal, business and economy] leave our Lima terminals bound for Nazca, Paracas, Arequipa, Chiclayo, Cuzco, Piura, Trujillo and Huancayo.”